Dragon mural comes to life in Riverfront Park in Norristown

NORRISTOWN ­­— With plastic cups of blue, yellow, red and orange paint a group of children from the ACPPA Community Art Center and adult volunteers painted a dragon mural on the side of a steel shipping container Monday morning at Riverfront Park.

The summer program students painted within the white lines sketched out by Amy Grebe, the executive director of the ACPPA Community Art Center in Norristown, at ground level while the adult volunteers painted higher up on the 45-foot long and nine-foot high metal container.

The mural will feature a dragon swimming through the water at sunset when it is completed.

Ten children and nine adults were working on the large art project when painting began at 11 a.m. on Monday.

The Dragon Boat Club of Norristown purchased the container in mid-May from Anjur Transport of Philadelphia for $3,100 to store paddles, boots and other equipment during the paddling season at Riverfront Park. During the wintertime, the container will also be used to store the club’s two dragon boats.

“We wanted to put a mural on it to make it look better,” said Robin Parker of Norristown, the coach of the dragon boat club. “Amy designed the mural. The guy I bought the container from said he had never seen a person so excited about buying a container.”

Dragon boat club member Roy Patton of Upper Merion was painting the higher areas of the container without a ladder. He joined the club in November 2012 and has been dragon boating for three years, he said.

“This park does not have a good reputation,” Patton said. “I wanted to brighten this place up by painting the dragon design.”

Sarah Kinghorn of Lower Providence brought one daughter, Lucy, 8, and her son, James, 4, to the painting party.

“Lucy is in ballet at ACCPA. I thought it would be a fun activity,” Kinghorn said, “for the kids and something to help the community.”

Grebe will paint the head of the dragon in September and the completed mural will be unveiled at the Rededication Celebration of Riverfront Park from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 21. The mural will have trees on each end but will not include any dragon boat paddlers, Grebe said.

The mural cost $2,000 to complete including labor and materials. Norristown officials contributed $500 to the effort, Grebe said.

“I have such great memories of going to the Riverfront Park growing up with my family,” said Gabriella Prete, the Norristown business development coordinator. “People have forgotten what a great gem the park is and I can’t wait to see it brought back to life. This mural is symbolic of the life the dragon boat club is breathing back into the park.”